RELATED

NEW DELHI: The CPM on Thursday said its charges on 2G spectrum allotment scam has been vindicated by the CAG report, and demanded removal of telecom minister A Raja.

Accusing Raja of "gross misconduct and illegal acts", CPM leader Sitaram Yechury said, the minister had caused a loss of over Rs 1.76 lakh crore to the exchequer.

"The minister cannot remain in office when a probe is in progress. He should be dropped immediately and all officials against whom prima-facie cases exist for committing illegalities, should be suspended," Yechury said. He also demanded that the "whopping loss" in license and spectrum fee, estimated by the Comptroller and Auditor General at Rs 176,379 crore in its latest report, be recovered by using the 3G license figures as the benchmark.

Yechury also described as "very strange" that P J Thomas, who was telecom secretary when the 2G spectrum scam broke out, has now been appointed the new Central Vigilance Commissioner. "It has put a big question mark on the investigations into the mega spectrum scam. The government will have to correct this irregular anomaly immediately," he said.

Announcing that Left parties would raise the matter in Parliament during the upcoming Winter session, he said the telecom ministry has been in the midst of scams since the NDA regime, as the same policies were pursued by the UPA-I government. "The Prime Minister has said that India cannot afford crony capitalism. But such scams only encourage crony capitalism," he said, adding that "so far, the government has not shown any interest in clearing itself of these charges".